Lyndsey Benson's Northern Colorado volleyball program will begin its 2008 season at the LaSalle Tournament on Aug. 29 in Philadelphia.

June 5, 2008

GREELEY, Colo. -- Northern Colorado's volleyball team returned late last month from an 11-day exhibition tour to Beijing and Shanghai, China. So for the members of next year's squad who went on the trip, the length of road trips in 2008 should not be an issue.

And that's a good thing, because the Bears will be on the road for a majority of the 2008 schedule (below).

Head coach Lyndsey Benson's Bears will start the season in Philadelphia at the LaSalle Tournament, which runs from Friday, Aug. 29, to Saturday, Aug. 30. Northern Colorado is scheduled to face Villanova and Rider on Friday, before taking on Lafayette and host LaSalle on Saturday.

The Bears, who were 10-20 overall and 8-8 in the Big Sky Conference last year, will begin conference play against Montana on Friday, Sept. 19.

Northern Colorado will begin its home slate against Sacramento State on Saturday, Sept. 27.

The Bears volleyball program will host its Alumni Match on Saturday, Sept. 13.

<u><b>Date	Event/Opponent				Time		Location</b></u>
August 29	Villanova (LaSalle Tournament)		12 pm		Philadelphia, PA
August 29	Rider (LaSalle Tournament)		4:30 pm		Philadelphia, PA
August 30	Lafayette (LaSalle Tournament)		2 pm		Philadelphia, PA
August 30	LaSalle (LaSalle Tournament)		7 pm		Philadelphia, PA 

September 5 	Texas-El Paso (NDSU Tournament)		4 pm		Fargo, ND
September 6	Illinois-Chicago (NDSU Tournament)	1 pm		Fargo, ND
September 6	North Dakota St (NDSU Tournament)	4 pm		Fargo ND
<b>September 13	Alumni Match				7 p.m.		Greeley, CO</b>
September 19	Montana*				7 p.m.		Missoula, MT
September 20	Montana State*				7 p.m.		Bozeman, MT
September 23	Denver					7 p.m.		Denver, CO
<b>September 27	Sacramento State*			7 p.m.		Greeley, CO</b>
<b>October 2	Eastern Washington*			7 p.m.		Greeley, CO</b>
<b>October 4	Portland State*				7 p.m.		Greeley, CO</b>
<b>October 7	Colorado State				7 p.m.		Greeley, CO</b>
October 10	Weber State*				7 p.m.		Ogden, UT
October 11	Idaho State*				7 p.m.		Pocatello, ID
October 18	Northern Arizona*			7 p.m.		Flagstaff, AZ
<b>October 23	Montana State*				7 p.m.		Greeley, CO</b>
<b>October 25	Montana*				7 p.m.		Greeley, CO</b>
October 31	Sacramento State*			7 p.m.		Sacramento, CA
November 6	Portland State*				7 p.m.		Portland, OR
November 8	Eastern Washington*			7 p.m.		Cheney, WA
<b>November 13	Idaho State*				7 p.m.		Greeley, CO</b>
<b>November 15	Weber State*				7 p.m.		Greeley, CO</b>
<b>November 22	Northern Arizona*			7 p.m.		Greeley, CO</b>
November 28-29	Big Sky Championships			TBA		Portland, OR
<i>All times local.
*Big Sky Conference matches
Home matches are bold</i>